Life of a Gal Named Liv

We survived the first month, holy moly.

The sleepless nights of staring at Basil to ensure his chest rising and falling; the frantic every 2 hour feeding to get him to gain weight; the confusion on what a “normal” baby poop should look like; the struggle to get all the legal stuff handled while running on 3 hours of broken sleep…

The hardest thing we have ever done by far. The scariest too, but also the most rewarding.

Basil is now 2 feet long, 12 lbs. Truly an off the charts baby. He has an awesome personality, is utterly obsessed with his b/w books, eats 4x the amount as a baby his age is supposed to, and is a real trooper when it comes to daily LONG walks with his Wolfpack. He does great in both the chest pack and the stroller. My parents got us the adventure parents dream- a convertible stroller for walking, jogging, skiing, and biking.

I’m well on my way to recovery, and am biting at the bit to be in full health again. For the first time in probably at least 5 months I pushed myself hard enough on a hike to actually drench a shirt in sweat and lordddd it felt so good! Turns out a 12 lb baby plus a 30 lb backpack (filled with anything I could possibly need for Basil in case something went wrong) plus a stubborn husky dog really adds up to be a great workout when hiking uphill 😉 I did a sustained uphill of 1.5 miles yesterday (3RT) and plan to up my mileage by .5 2x per week so I should be at 10 miles (with weight) by snowfall. It’s been quite the adjustment these past 10 months for me… just to think I was doing 20-28 miles a day on the PCT just 2 summers ago! Life sure does have a lot of different seasons & I can’t wait to be back in tip top backpacking shape but I’m also trying to listen to my body and appreciate all it has been through. At least I’ll be up to 10mi by snowfall… that will feel like a pretty big accomplishment!

WHICH also happens to be when we plan to head out for our month long roadtrip. We originally had a pretty cool route planned to hit the central California national parks, but Phin’s PhD defense got pushed back a month so we are aiming for redwoods/ Oregon coast/ Washington coast instead. We will be biking, hiking, surfing (him,not me) and having a whole lotta campfires under the stars. we haven’t bought the camper yet, but we are beefing up our suburban (Wilma) and i think I have a good amount of supplies to make it as comfy as possible for our little munchkin.

Adventure baby gear:

1. Morrison outdoors 20 degree sleeping bag for infant
2. Ergobaby Omnibreeze
3. Thule Chariot Double Stroller with rain cover
4. Ergobaby all weather cover
5. Lots of warm baby clothes, mittens, waterproof outer layers, and fuzzy booties
6. Baby Brezza for on the go milk warming
7. A 1st aid kit for baby
8. Pack n play (going to buy the mosquito net cover as well)
9. Peapod prestige mini tent

Of course traveling with a newborn will have its challenges, but we are fairly used to the struggle when it comes to traveling. After multiple trips car camping/remote working (while pregnant) with our cat and 2 dogs (yes, sleeping all of us in one car with all our gear) we feel like a camper WITH the addition of a newborn will even out to be net neutral.

Baby blur:

To just give you a picture of what new parenthood/ the newborn stage looks like:

A story:

So I was frantically headed to target, to get a drive-up order that had much anticipated pacifiers in it… I only had 30 minutes to get there and back until the next feed. Cluster feeding am I right!?! so I pull up and park in the spot & enter it into the app as per usual. Most times I get out of the car and open up the trunk and talk to whoever is loading up my groceries, but this time I was in sweatpants and I had baby puke all over my shirt so I figured I could just unlock it for them. (that’s what most people do anyways right?) well, as soon as she comes out, she asks where to put the groceries. I say “the back back”. She opens the back door to a dog hair ridden taco- style bed lounge. She looks horrified and in a high-pitched voice says “…back here?” Then I say no sorry, the backkkkk back. And then she says “ um the trunk”? Yes. God damn, yes the trunk. Then we did this awkward, verbal dance while she then tried to open the back back or as some would call it call it…the trunk…while I unlocked it & she kept trying the handle. Hell, I was just going to do it myself! So I get out, and my (very) messy (very tall) bun gets stuck on the “oh shit” handle and yanked me back. When I got myself untangled the trunk was loaded… Exhaustion, chunks of hair, Postpartum really does a number on ya.

Another story:

it was one of those mornings after what I felt like an all nighter of feeding… I’m trying to hurry so I can get the dogs out on a walk before it gets too hot. As we all know, it’s when you’re hurrying that something goes wrong.. I noticed the diaper just had a little bit of poop in it & a fairly large pee, figured I was safe from a pee stream and grabbed for the diaper balm. Then a poop Fire hose starts shooting off all over! I shriek, Piñon comes to the rescue, but of course steps all over the poop! Then Phin comes to the rescue with towels in hand, thankfully. As he is cleaning up the poop off the ground & piñons paws (while wrapped in a towel from the shower himself) basil proceeds to start peeing all over, with Phin clearly in the danger zone. I’m laughing so hard that I can’t communicate with words and trying to get him to move while simultaneously trying to control the tiny penis. He made it out safely. LOL. Lots of fluids…all the time.

Lessons learned:

What have I learned so far as a mum?

1. having a baby is a messy messy feat. Ensure there are fresh stacks of burps cloths in every single room of the house. breast pads too, if you are like me… springin’ leaks right and left. You’ll have a lot of fluids on you all the time… but you’ll get used to it haha
2. Pacifiers are not created equal. You’ll need to try out a few options before baby finds one they like…and they may REALLY dislike some.
3. Premie nipples limit gas (slower feed, less air) and aren’t just for premies. (Game changer for night feeds and aggressive feeders)
4. A diaper change doesn’t mean one new diaper… sometimes it means going through 2 or 3 or 4 before they are done exploding/ peeing into the fresh ones. You’ll think they are done… and then they will explode right as you’re sticking the second flap on
5. Not all diapers are sized the same way! A size one in one brand can be a completely different size than a size one in another.
6. Same goes for all the clothes. At 3 weeks Basil fit into one newborn sleeper still, all 0-3 onesies, and multiple 6 month outfits…
7. When they say you feed every 2-3 hours for breastfeeding- it’s from the start of the 1st feed to the start of the next feed. So that may only be 45 minutes of not feeding in between.
8. Get the whole gamete of breastfeeding tools- I have 1 electric pump, 2 manuals, and 2 passive pumps. Your life will be much better if you don’t have to take a part and clean a pump at 3am. Oh, and there are different nipple sized inserts for each device- who knew?!
9. Babies communicate! I mean, I had read this obviously in books, but I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to pick up on his cues. Well, we do! At least it’s super easy for Phin and I to understand what he wants. Just pay attention to their facial expressions, the tone of their noises/cries, and their overall movements.
10. The biggest lesson: even if your baby is seemingly healthy when they pop out, they will most likely have things come up at those first few appointments that make you want to cry/puke/hyperventilate with new parent panic. For example, Basil has had a floppy airway, a sunken chest, clogged tear ducts, a heart arrhythmia, jaundice, a potential broken arm (it wasn’t), a huge hematoma on his head, and multiple skull formation issues. Here I thought we would be in the free and clear if he just passed his newborn evaluation. Even seemingly healthy babes can have so many things come up that scare the crap out of you!

The hardest parts so far:

1. The urge to stay awake and stare at your baby all night to make sure they don’t die from SIDS

2. Staying awake while breast-feeding in the middle of the night… And the act of waking up to breast-feed in the middle of the night.

3. Realizing that the dishes can wait and it’s (more than) okay, to just sit in the rocking chair and nurse for 2 hours. THIS has been so hard for me, as you can imagine with someone who has my levels of hyper-activity. Sometimes packing him around in the Ergobaby to do chores works, but sometimes he just really really needs my cuddles and full access to both boobs!

The best parts:

1. Getting to know our newest best friend. Basil is already showing his hilarious little personality and is always down for a new adventure!

2. Everyone says it but- the newborn scrunch and how he lays on my belly post-feeding with his head laid on his crossed little arms… milk drunk babies are freaking adorable

3. Watching my best friend/sweet husband holding and comfort our little buddy. precious!

4. His little noises and funnnyyyy facial expressions

5. How much he relaxes in baths

6. Watching him “read” his black and white books in complete wonder and look at our large phot prints on the walls. Utter intrigue!

Gratitude

It’s really been something growing, birthing, and raising this beautiful soul. I think often of how he will interact with the world as he grows up. I’m trying my very best to always have peaceful vibes around him and to take things as they come. We live in a world much too fast paced with far little time for enjoyment, appreciation, and understanding. Living an intentional lifestyle is one of my core values and I hope to instill it into Basil. I’m so grateful to have him with such a loving supportive husband, at a time where we planned for and desired to add to our family. My heart goes out to all the individuals who don’t plan for having a child, I can’t imagine how hard that would be. And as someone who has experienced loss, my heart also goes out to all those who desire but can’t have a babe yet. We are all on this journey called life, it looks different for all of us but sometimes our paths do merge for a while and it is so important to radiate love, compassion, and respect to others when worlds collide. Life can end at any moment, so as I’m in this one I’ll be sucking up all the sunshine, baby snuggles, wagging dog butts, kitty purrs, and delicious meals shared with my soulmate. This is a beautiful, sweet season of life. Sending all the good vibes!

P.S. Next update may not be for a few months while we prepare to leave/ Phin finishes his PhD & YAY- we start our adventure in the camper! Or maybe we buy a house and move, who knows… plans change day to day 😉

P.S.S if you haven’t gotten the Google drive photo links yet let me know! There is a new one for month 2!